Search This Website

Share & Search

Experts offer free air quality test for homes

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

THE Shanghai Environmental Protection Association announced yesterday that it will offer free indoor air quality test for newly decorated homes to check formaldehyde, benzene, volatile organic compound and radon -- a major indoor radioactive substance leading to lung cancer. Local families can make an application to the association by dialing 51157376 or visiting www.shaepi.org.cn before August 31. Test results will be used in a research on indoor air quality. While the public is increasingly awareness of the danger of formaldehyde, benzene and other volatile pollutants, the risk from radon is not well known, radiation experts said. Unlike volatile pollutants with bad smell, radon which comes mainly from soil, brick, cement, granite and ceramic tiles is odorless and invisible. Its danger is ignored by people, the experts said. A previous radon check in some public buildings found radon was higher than the country's average level. "Indoor air pollution can cause leukemia, heart disease, skin disease and cancer," said Feng Weiheng, a radiation expert from the Shanghai Environmental Protection Association. "Compared with other pollutants, people have less knowledge about radon." He said indoor radon is the culprit for about 20,000 lung cancer deaths in Europe each year. In the United States, radon kills about 21,000 people each year, surpassing AIDS.

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE former investment director of Shanghai-based Everbright-Prameric Fund Management Co was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail with three years' reprieve for insider trading. Xu Chunmao, who the Jing'an District court heard had been in the mutual fund business for more than seven years, was also fined 2.1 million yuan (US$329,437). Xu was the first Shanghai-based asset manager to be sentenced for insider trading, the court said. Xu made more than 2.09 million yuan in illegal profits and that has been confiscated. Xu, 37, abused his position at Everbright-Prameric from July 2006 to April 2010 by leaking investment tips to three of his former university classmates, the court said. The three would buy shares of certain companies on Xu's advice before or at the same time his firm bought into the companies, the court said. The group traded a total of 68 stocks in this way with a combined investment of more than 95 million yuan. China has been stepping up supervision o…

SHANGHAI residents will soon have a new place for outing when the Sunland Ecological Park in Pudong's Waigaoqiao area is completed next year, officials said yesterday. Construction of the 3.35-square-kilometer park, about 2.4 times the size of the Century Park, began yesterday. The new park will have no boundary walls and will consist of a big lake, a peony garden and a sports park. It is part of the Sunland Eco-Community Project that also includes shopping malls and an international community to cater to the needs of about 210,000 workers and 7,000 firms in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone. Greenery and water area will cover 70 percent of the eco-community, said Lu Qin, deputy director of administration at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Co Ltd. All the green space will open to the public for free except for some private sports clubs, he added. The sports park will have a golf course, a rugby ground, a track and field, and a cycling trail around the lake. People can play sports or watch in…

Huangjia LuSums it up. Improving people's lives needs to be the ultimate goal of Shanghai's 12th Five-Year Plan and this year will be crucial as the city continues to restructure its economy, senior officials of Shanghai's top political advisory body said as its annual session opened yesterday. About 750 members of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference participated in the opening session. It marked the start of a week where suggestions can be made to the government via committee members. The annual session of the Shanghai People's Congress, the city's top legislative body, will open today. "After a successful World Expo, Shanghai should focus on economic restructuring based on the Expo experience," said Li Liangyuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Committee of the CPPCC. "To improve livelihoods through sustainable development should be a priority in the 12th Five-Year Plan." This year is the first yea…